There’s a lack of trust, all right, and it is founded in the fact that mosques have been used for various terror-related activities in New York, Florida, Oregon, and elsewhere, and moderate Muslims have not been forthcoming in cooperating with authorities. “We would like to know what the FBI wants, and we will give it to them.” I hope so. Why should the FBI have to trust American Muslims? Do you feel better knowing that Muhammad Atta won trust from airport security agents in Boston? Why can’t American Muslims take even one step to show themselves trustworthy? From the Arizona Republic, with thanks to Teri:
Valley Muslim leaders met Tuesday with FBI officials for a bridge-building meeting, but members of the Middle Eastern community remain frustrated over what they perceive as ethnic and religious profiling by counter-intelligence agents.
“There’s a lack of trust,” said Omar Shahin, imam at the Islamic Community Center of the East Valley. “We have to start building the trust – building the bridges.
“We would like to know what the FBI wants, and we will give it to them . . . We live in this country, and we are concerned about the security of this country.”
Shahin and other Muslims who attended the closed-door meeting at Arizona State University’s downtown Phoenix campus said they were encouraged by FBI overtures, but not entirely satisfied. Since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, they said, they have been upset about interrogation methods employed by some federal agents, and about suspicious delays with immigration paperwork for Muslims.
“We came to this country like others, to enjoy freedom,” said Shahin. “We are not feeling secure anymore. So we shared our concerns with the FBI.”
The meeting was convened just weeks after FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., confirmed the launch of a new round of intelligence-gathering interviews – primarily directed at Middle Easterners.